1. Field of Technology
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method that can print using an ink cartridge or other type of cartridges storing a recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
Inkjet printers can be categorized as monochrome or color printers. A monochrome printer is a printer that prints using only one color of ink, which may be black, red, or other color. A color printer is a printer that can print using two or more colors of ink, such as black and red, black and blue, or other combination of at least two colors. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. 2003-94672.
This type of color printer can be used as a compact printer in a point-of-sale (POS) system, for example. Users whose printing needs are met by printing only in black can use a monochrome printer to print receipts and other content. Users that want to print using color, on the other hand, such as to print the store name or logo in red while printing the detailed product lines on a sales receipt in black, do so by using a color printer.
Users with clear current and future printing objectives can select either or both monochrome and color printers according to their intended purpose. Some users, however, are only interested in monochrome printing at the time the printer is purchased but also want the ability to print in color at sometime in the future. Such users can prepare for this future color printing need by purchasing a color printer and using the color printer for monochrome printing.
Color inkjet printers use a separate ink cartridge for each color of ink, and the capacity of each ink cartridge is thus typically less than the ink cartridge capacity in a monochrome printer. As a result, if a color printer is used for monochrome printing using just one color of ink, the ink cartridge will be emptied in less time than if using a monochrome printer and the ink cartridge will thus be replaced more frequently. The user must therefore frequently replace the ink cartridge, and this ink cartridge replacement process can be tedious. Replacing the ink cartridge also interrupts work because the printer cannot print while the ink cartridge is being replaced.
A printing apparatus and printing method according to one embodiment of this invention reduce how frequently the recording medium (such as ink) cartridge must be replaced and thus improve job productivity when using a printer having a plurality of recording medium cartridges as a monochrome printer.
A printing apparatus and printing method according to another embodiment of the invention enable selection of how the recording medium cartridges are used in a plurality of print modes.
A printing apparatus and printing method according to another embodiment of the invention use a plurality of recording medium cartridges evenly by means of a relatively simple control configuration without involving the host device that generates the monochrome print data.